Haunted Hotel
by FotoBridgeT2
Summary: Spencer and Morgan discuss how Emily deals with bad cases. A very very slight H/P reference.


(Quick oneshot explaining why Emily is a squirmer. Follows my other stories. Current reading order--"Horror Movies, Statistics, and a Lifetime", "Emily's Mr. Right", "For Now and Forever", "Haunted Hotel", "Hotch's Darkeyed Obsession", "Apocalypse Now", "Superhero Family", and "Hope". I'll be adding many many more to this time line as well. Enjoy and please, please, please--give me some feedback. I plan to eventually write a spec script for CM and I want to know what people think! Thanks)

HAUNTED HOTEL

Emily was the ghost that haunted every hotel, Derek thought as the soft knock rapped against his door. It didn't surprise him—she'd done it ever since she'd joined the BAU when cases got to be too much for her. She'd shared her secret with him after they'd arrested Buford and he'd been angry at the entire team for the simple fact that they _knew. _

When he'd found out that she was wondering the hotels alone, most likely barefooted, late at night in strange cities—he'd hit the roof. She had to know that wasn't safe, that anything could happen to her. That travelers were extra vulnerable—especially those females who hunted serial killers.

So they'd worked out a system. She'd knock on his door twice as she passed. He was a light sleeper and always woke up. If three knocks hadn't sounded within an hour after the first two—he'd get up and go looking for her.

She'd also been cautioned to stay within the hotel lobbies. She was never to step outside the hotel. Never.

Sometimes, they just sat and talked, others—they just sat. Sometimes he held her while she cried. Sometimes she listened while he ranted about the world in general.

Sometimes just being with someone who didn't judge you, and didn't expect anything from you was all it took to make it better.

Derek wondered if Hotch realized that. The man had shut down in the five days or so since Rossi'd been hurt. Pulled back from the entire team, stood watching them with inscrutable eyes.

Stood watching Emily.

Derek wondered briefly if she'd noticed. Should he tell her? Or let her figure it out on her own? It was probably best not to say anything—just in case nothing came of it.

Morgan looked at clock, making note of the time. She had forty minutes to knock or he was going after her. It's what friends did, looking after each other.

"Morgan? What was that?" Reid asked, voice sleep husky, from the next bed, "Emily up haunting again?"

"Yeah man, go back to sleep. I'll stay up until she's back." Derek said. "She shouldn't be up too much longer."

"Why does she do it?" Reid asked, "Wonder the halls?"

"Restless." Derek said, "Some cases just hit her hard. You know what it's like."

"Why tonight?"

"Come on man. sixteen women in their twenties and thirties. Blondes and brunettes. You should know what she was seeing." Derek chided. "It sucks, man, the way it's almost always women who are the victims—especially of sexualized violent crimes. It just is."

"Ten times more likely to be woman than a man." Spencer added. "But Emily never lets it get to her."

"Emily compartmentalizes." Derek contradicted. "The only time it has to escape is when she's asleep."

"So she doesn't sleep." Reid said, sighing. He understood ghosts. He had plenty of his own.

"She doesn't sleep." Derek said. "When she does, she fights the nightmares with everything she has."

"So she kicks, and twists." Spencer said, mind replaying images of his friend sleeping on the plane. He'd just always thought she was one of those restless sleeper types. Never stopped to think that the woman he considered to be invulnerable was battling demons right before his eyes.

"And fights ghosts with every fiber of her being. But sometimes, the ghosts win."

"So she haunts the hotels, while the ghosts are haunting her."

"Exactly." Derek finished, as a quick succession of knocks sounded on the door, signaling that the battle was won—at least for tonight.

Derek Morgan relaxed. Emily Prentiss would sleep now, and leave the haunting of the hotel to another night—or another spirit.


End file.
